Barack Obama in Hopes and Prospects
On Foreign Policy:
$1.8B per year for mega-embassy in Iraq; same in Afghanistan
The immense city-within-a-city "embassy" in Baghdad not only remains, but its cost is also to rise under Obama to $1.8 billion a year, from an estimated $1.5 billion in Bush's last year. The Obama administration is also constructing mega-embassies in
Pakistan and Afghanistan that are completely without precedent. Throughout the Gulf region, billions are spent to develop "critical base & port facilities," along with military training & arms shipments expanding the US global system of militarization.
Source: Hopes and Prospects, by Noam Chomsky, p. 63
Jun 1, 2010
On Foreign Policy:
Hamas election void until they renounce violenc
Obama repeated the familiar reasons for ignoring the elected government led by Hamas: "To be a genuine party to peace," Obama declared, "the Quartet [US, EU, Russia, UN) has made it clear that Hamas must meet clear conditions: recognize
Israel's right to exist; renounce violence; and abide by past agreements."Also near-universal are the standard references to Hamas: a terrorist organization, dedicated to the destruction of Israel (or maybe all Jews). Hamas has called for a 2-state
settlement in the terms of international consensus: publicly and repeatedly. Israel and the US object that the Hamas proposals do not go far enough.
Perhaps so, but they surely go much farther toward the international consensus than the firm and unwavering US-Israeli rejectionist stance, reiterated obliquely by Obama in his State Department talk.
Source: Hopes and Prospects, by Noam Chomsky, p.254-255
Jun 1, 2010
On Homeland Security:
OpEd: On track to spend most on military since WWII
For 2008, the US accounted for over 40% of global military expenses, eight times as much as its nearest rival, China. The US is of course alone in having a vast network of military bases around the world and a global surveillance and control system, and
in regularly invading other countries (with impunity, given its power). From 1999 to 2008, global military spending increased 45%, with the US accounting for 58% of the total.Obama is on track to spend more on defense, in real dollars, than any other
president in one term of office since World War II, and that's not counting the additional $130 billion the administration is requesting to find the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan next year, with even more war spending slated for future years. In January
2010, Congress passed his Pentagon budget with supplemental funding for Afghanistan pending. The $708.3 billion budget (with another $33 billion expected for Afghanistan) is not only a record, but also amounts to half the deficit.
Source: Hopes and Prospects, by Noam Chomsky, p. 63-64
Jun 1, 2010
On Homeland Security:
Called for space weapons ban, but with wiggle room
A crucial question is what Obama's position will be on "missile defense"--understood on all sides to be, in effect, a first-strike weapon--and militarization of space. On the latter, he was called for "a world-wide ban on weapons that interfere with
military and commercial satellites," which would mean that the US project of the weaponization of space--so far in isolation and over global objections, spearheaded at the UN by China--would remain undisturbed, while there would be a ban on any
interference with satellites, including those essential for the militarization of space. He also called for a space weapons ban, a very welcome step, but presented in a way that leaves "a lot of wiggle room." Obama's approach may be an improvement ove
Bush, and offers prospects for popular movements that seek to rid the earth of these threats to survival of the species. But a lot of work will be needed.
Source: Hopes and Prospects, by Noam Chomsky, p. 65-66
Jun 1, 2010
On Homeland Security:
Strengthen NPT to have automatic sanctions on Iran
[On Iran, Obama called for tough diplomacy "to pressure Iran directly to change their troubling behavior," namely pursuing a nuclear program and supporting terrorism. If Iran abandons its troubling behavior, the
US might move toward normal diplomatic and economic relations, Obama proposed, but "if Iran continues its troubling behavior, we will step up our economic pressure and political isolation."Furthermore, Obama proceeded, he will strengthen the
NPT "so that countries like North Korea and Iran that break the rules will automatically face strong international sanctions." He made no mention of the conclusion of US intelligence that Iran had not had a weapons program for five years, unlike
US allies in Israel, Pakistan, and India, the three countries that all maintain extensive nuclear weapons programs (with direct US support), all unmentioned as well.
Source: Hopes and Prospects, by Noam Chomsky, p.249
Jun 1, 2010
On Jobs:
OpEd: Backed Employee Free Choice Act only during campaign
While running for office, Obama said he strongly backed the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). However, when Obama took office and talked about steps to 'jolt' the economy, the Act was not part of the package. EFCA quickly vanished.
And to make priorities even clearer, a few weeks after taking office, Pres. Obama decided to show his solidarity with workers by giving a talk at a Caterpillar plant. The hardline CEO of Caterpillar rescinded the contract with United Auto Workers in
1991, instituted a lockout, and brought in scabs, for the first time in generations in manufacturing industry.At the time of Caterpillar's innovation in labor relations, Obama was a community organizer in Chicago and visiting fellow at the
University of Chicago Law School. He must have been reading the Chicago Tribune, which ran a careful study in these events. They reported that the union was "stunned" to find that unemployed workers crossed the picket line with no remorse.
Source: Hopes and Prospects, by Noam Chomsky, p.217-218
Jun 1, 2010
On Principles & Values:
OpEd: Elections of underclass occurred in many countries
Reactions to Obama's election commonly adopted Obama's soaring rhetoric [such as one reporter saying], "In no other country in the world is such an election possible."The rhetoric may have some justification if we keep to the West, but elsewhere
matters are different. Consider the world's largest democracy, India. The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, which is notorious for horrifying treatment of women, is not only a woman but a Dalit ("untouchable"), at the lowest rung of India's caste system.
And Consider Haiti: In Haiti's first democratic election in 1990, grassroots movements were organized in the slums and hills, and though without resources, elected their own candidate, the populist priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The results astonished
observers who expected an easy victory for the candidate of the elite. True, this victory for democracy was soon overturned by a military coup, but the victory itself was a far more "extraordinary example of democracy" than the miracle of 2008.
Source: Hopes and Prospects, by Noam Chomsky, p.213
Jun 1, 2010
On Technology:
$13B stimulus funds to upgrade rail lines & build new ones
The Wall Street Journal reported that "US transportation chief Ray Lahood is in Spain meeting with high-speed rail suppliers. Europe's engineering and rail companies are lining up for some potentially lucrative US contracts for high-speed rail projects.
At stake is $13 billion in stimulus funds that the Obama administration is allocating to upgrade existing rail lines and build new ones that could one day rival Europe's fastest."
Source: Hopes and Prospects, by Noam Chomsky, p. 95-96
Jun 1, 2010
On War & Peace:
Supports Arab Peace Initiative (two states) with exceptions
The Obama-Netanyahu-Abbas meetings in May 2009 have been widely interpreted as a turning point in US Middle East policy.The consensus calls for a Palestinian state to be established in united Gaza and the West bank after Israel's withdrawal. The Arab
Peace Initiative adds that the Arab states should then normalize relations with Israel. The initiative was later adopted by the Organization of Islamic States, including Iran.
Obama has praised the initiative and called on the Arab states to proceed to
normalize relations with Israel, scrupulously evading the core of the proposal: reiteration of the international consensus. His studied omission can only be understood as [the same] US rejectionist stand that has blocked a diplomatic settlement since the
1970s, with rare and temporary exceptions. There are no signs that Obama is willing even to consider the Arab Peace Initiative. That was underscored in Obama's much heralded address to the Muslim world in Cairo on June 4, 2009.
Source: Hopes and Prospects, by Noam Chomsky, p.177-178
Jun 1, 2010
On War & Peace:
Continued Israeli settlements in West Bank are illegitimate
In his June 4, 2009 address to the Muslim world in Cairo, Obama once again echoed Bush's "vision" of two states, without saying what he means by the phrase "Palestine state." His intentions are clarified by his one explicit criticism of Israel: "The
US does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop. "That is, Israel should live up to Phase I of the 2003
Road Map, rejected at once by Israel with tacit US support, as noted--through the truth is that Obama has ruled out even steps of the Bush I variety to withdraw from participation in these crimes.The operative words are "legitimacy" & "continued."
By omission, Obama indicates that he accepts Bush's vision: the vast existing settlement and infrastructure projects are "legitimate," thus ensuring that the phrase "Palestinian state" means "fried chicken."
Source: Hopes and Prospects, by Noam Chomsky, p.188-191
Jun 1, 2010
On War & Peace:
OpEd: 2008: Denounced Mumbai attacks, but not Gaza attacks
On Israel-Palestine, rumors began circulating that Obama might depart from the US rejectionism that has blocked a political settlement for over thirty years. The record, however, never provided any basis for taking rumors seriously.Before the
primaries, I reviewed Obama's formal positions at the time. They gave no reason for any expectations beyond enthusiastic support for Israeli crimes. Particularly revealing was his reaction to Israel's sharply accelerated assault on Gaza, opening its
violation of the cease-fire on Nov. 4, 2008, as voters were going to the polls to elect Obama, then breaking out in full fury on Dec. 27 after rejection of Hamas initiatives to reinstate the cease-fire. To these crimes Obama's response was silence--
unlike, say, the late November terrorist attack in Mumbai, which he was quick to denounce, along with the "hateful ideology" that lay behind it. In the case of Gaza, his staff hid behind the mantra that "there is one president at a time."
Source: Hopes and Prospects, by Noam Chomsky, p.233
Jun 1, 2010
On War & Peace:
OpEd: Relying heavily on drones causes civilian casualties
On Iraq, Obama has frequently been praised for his "principled opposition" to the war. In reality, his opposition has been entirely unprincipled throughout. The war, he said, was a "strategic blunder."Obama's "vision" was to shift forces from Iraq to
Afghanistan. Obama strongly endorsed the Bush administration policy of attacking suspected al-Qaeda leaders in countries Washington has not (yet) invaded. Presumably, Obama also accepts the more expansive Bush doctrine that the US not only has the right
to invade countries as it chooses (unless it is a "blunder," too costly to us), but also to attack others that Washington claims were supporting resistance to its aggression. In particular, Obama is relying more heavily than Bush on the raids by drones
that have killed many civilians in Pakistan. Drones have killed about 14 alleged terrorists and 700 civilians--a hit rate of 2%.
Afghan president Hamid Karzai's first message to President-elect Obama: "End US airstrikes that risk civilian casualties."
Source: Hopes and Prospects, by Noam Chomsky, p.234-242
Jun 1, 2010
Page last updated: Jul 19, 2011